Chapter 2
1. I didnāt know then (2)
#1 Their Story: A Certain Trainee
This is crazy. Absolutely crazy. Maddening, almost.
āHohoho, they did mention that you were one of the best groups in history. I suppose they were right, seeing how well you kids are doing.ā
Magic was raining down from the skies. Only five days had passed since the start of the higher class training, and 30 people had survived.
On the midnight of the first day, the sudden magic bombing on our sleeping quarters knocked out half of the group. The length of time weāve survived for during this five days was still quite long, Iāve heard, but even then, we were reaching the limit.
āHmm, I have high expectations for this batch.ā
I could see instructor Naruan, who was talking to the communication wizard to direct the bombings every once in a while with an emotionless face.
I had heard that he was the one who shaped most of the powerhouses in the current organization by himself. I had heard that I might get the chance to become one of those people.
But whenever I heard those words, the other instructors all smirked and said this: [Even so, itās usually about one in twenty who make it to the top. Sometimes, itās one out of fifty.] Most of them come back next year to be trained again.
When I heard those words, I thought that Iād become one of those succeeding people.
I had cast away my war-torn village to step into the path of darkness.
My resolve was different from the kids who had come here because they had no choice.
In fact, this resolve of mine allowed me to rank twenty-seven out of a thousand other children.
But stillā¦ Isnāt this really too much?
I went to sleep, excited about what I was to learn the very next day. And the moment I closed my eyes, a siren went off and our living quarters were destroyed within a minute. I come out confused and lost, and Iām told that if I donāt make it to a specific location within a set time, Iām out.
The thing Iāve heard when I arrived at that location was perhaps the most ridiculous thing Iāve ever heard.
āOoh. Iāve heard forty nine had survived the first attack, but to think forty nine would be here as wellā¦ As an instructor, I am exceedingly happy! I am so, so, soooo happy, in fact, it feels like I might as well be crying tears of joy right now!ā
His delighted voice didnāt fit his cold expression at all. His chilly eyes and trembling lips almost suggested that he was restraining his laughter.
āAhh, it is said that the teachings of a teacher is akin to the heavens itself, but to think youād make me cryā¦ The gods above must be crying in joy with me as well.ā
Naruan looked up as if he was waiting for something, then looked down at us again.
āRight. It seems that the tears of the heavens would be falling upon us soon, so prepare your umbrellas.ā
The first thing I had in my mind was: was he crazy?
There were not a single clouds in the sky. There didnāt seem to be any sign of rain. Plus, the āumbrellaā that was provided for us was more like a wooden branch. It was incapable of blocking a single drop of water.
āā¦Hold on, this is?ā
The one who rid me of my confusion was a high-pitched voice. When I turned around, I could see a girl ranked ten ranks higher than me, trainee number seventeen.
āOho. So thereās already someone who can recognize the umbrella. Thisāll be simple, then.ā
Snap.
The moment Naruan snapped his fingers, someone appeared next to him.
āMake it rain.ā
At the same time, silver rain began to fall upon us.
From
(TN: ā was mostly Ensjās translations back in the day, I just tweaked a few lines.)
***
Ahhh, itās as nervewracking as ever. When a new semester starts, did my old principal feel like this when he made the same speech he always did?
But to think he could still continue with such boring words despite that, as I thought, the job of principal isnāt something just anyone can do.
Youād probably need at least a mithril-grade thick face to be a principal.
Although all I did was walk up to the pedestal, a hundred pairs of eyes all came to focus on me.
There are some excited ones, nervous ones, and some completely emotionless ones.
Well, not that it matters.
Grow like weeds and become my incentive! Is just about all I feel from that.
āNow, my fresh hatchlings with eggshell still stuck on your feathers, welcome. I am the one in charge of Squad 1, Instructor Naruan.ā
I could see some of them looking discontent at being called hatchlings.
Thoseāre probably the ones who had their heads high from their pretty high prelim ranks.
But itās rare that top in primary school ends up being top in high school.
Of course, itās not like the skills from having your nose buried in your desk since primary school would have gone anywhere. Thatās not how talent works.
Starting suddenly and overturning the standards of normality.
That is the realm of genius. It doesnāt seem like there are any geniuses among this lot, but there will definitely be someone who will rise to their talents and overturn the previous order.
āOther instructors start training from today, but Just. For. Today. Iāll be giving you kids the day off. If I talk any more my mouth will hurt and youāll all only get pissed off. Go to your assigned dorms and for today, enjoy your day off.ā
After a moment of silence, the kids walked away happily as I watched over them and gently smirked.
As expected of an evil organization.
They didnāt even give those kids a proper break. But Iām different! I let them rest the moment they came!
Where else are you going to find an instructor like me!
āā¦ā¦ Is this the infamous last supper?ā
But even while looking at my kindly smile, the organizationās personnel who had come to help with tomorrowās training, for some reason or another, all had their faces turning pale.
What was it? Was there something wrong with lunch?
āItās not their last. I havenāt had anyone die on me in my training course yet.ā
āThatās true. They wonāt die.ā
Although her words left a sour taste in my mouth Iām not going to ask any further.
Normally in an evil organization thereās no real sense of camaraderie between colleagues.
Evil organizations that pointlessly insist on that tend to have all their members drawn in like sausages if so much as one of them get caught, so long-running evil organizations always live with the determination to abandon each other at any moment.
Because of that even when you need the cooperation with other branches, any of them could equally be enemies looking for an opportunity to stick their knives in your backs, and to prevent that you need to be pretty social even in an evil organization.
And in front of my eyes is one of the great peaks of the āmust be friendsā list!
The famous magician brigade!
The moment you get on the bad side of either the mage corps that can blast away the enemy with accurate and heavy firepower, or any of the Treasury staff that guarantee your salary and operating overheads you might as well half kiss your organization life goodbye already.
When you desperately raised your budget but the Treasury worker that you were on bad terms with slashed your budget by half, or when the mage corps that promised to help out say they couldnāt come because they were busy, of course it would have a massive impact on your job!
āLetās get ready, shall we.ā
āUnderstood.ā
Even so, according to the organizationās official hierarchy Iām quite high up.
As the magician nodded in response to my words and vanished, I checked the time.
āCurrent time 1400 hours.ā
Thereās ten hours left till the day ends. I definitely said that you kids could rest Just. For. Today. you know?
#2. Their story: A certain mageās story.
āBoss, is this really training for kids?ā
As a mage of Howling, a place far removed from justice and light, and far closer to darkness and evil, Iāve done plenty of things that shouldnāt have been done.
If I was assigned a target then I would spare no means or effort to do the job, and if needed Iād even casually annihilated a village or two.
With scores of experience in killing yesterdayās ally turned traitor, but this was weird, even for myself who had done all those things.
āIf itās the Empire-style carpet bombing, then not even the organizationās special forces can block that.ā
The very first day of the timetable and itās already absolutely insane.
The tactic that the Mad Witch of the Empire had devised during the last great war.
The theory behind it was simple.
A mage would head up to 5000m above sea level and create ice by freezing water vapour with ice magic, then drop it, simple as that, but the results were anything but.
A thirty thousand strong force of the Merdeia kingdom which was at odds with the Empire was annihilated with this simple tactic and five thousand of them died.
The magic barrier of the mages and archmages were torn to shreds by the simple concepts of mass and velocity, and even before Merdeiaās soldiers could send out their mages to hunt ours, the troops led by the Mad Witch attacked the capital in chaos.
The battle where just ten thousand of that Mad Witchās forces more or less massacred thirty thousand of the military kingdom Merdeiaās forces is already scheduled to be immortalised in the empireās history books.
But that, is going to be fired on these kids whoāve barely passed their preliminary training.
āYouāll have to control it well.ā
āBoss! Even a pebble will break skulls if theyāre dropped from 5000m above sea level.ā
āIndeed. So the kids will need have the mindset that they need to dodge well.ā
āIf they canāt dodge theyāll die!ā
Even if the turnover rate is only slightly lower than the empireās during their slaughter-happy moments, I canāt see this wastage of human resources like this.
My conscience hadnāt run so dry to send these innocent kids to a dogās death.
But even in the face of my pleas the bossās answer was unchanging.
āTheyāre not going to die.ā
No. To be precise, his eyes were dead and lilfeless.
āā¦Is it an order from the top?ā
āIt is, and one from Instructor Naruanās direct disciples.ā
Instructor Naruanās direct disciple.
The empire, no, the continentās evil organisations training facilities each had their own specific quirks, but what they all had in common was that each batch would have a hundred people in them.
Of course, not all of the hundred were trained perfectly.
Some places fifty, some places seventy, some places thirty.
Depending on the training there were a lot of trainees that died, and there were also some training schools where more died than graduated.
But even in amongst all those, Instructor Naruanās trainees were regarded as incomparable.
The reason being, very simply, that each time, no more than a single digit number of trainees ever completed the full course.
Organization or no, an instructor like that should be fired, but there was a reason why he could still hold his position as an instructor. That was because all the trainees who survived his training took the top positions of the organization with overwhelming strength and speed.
Especially the class just before the one regarded as the greatest ever, currently all the disciples from that squad broke record after record and all of them took vital roles in the organizationās military, diplomacy, internal affairs, treasury and so on.
And even so, each and every of them were so talented that blew away all their subordinatesā doubts.
āThis is what the Intelligence Vice-Director says. They will feel like dying, but they wonāt die. They wonāt die, but theyāll at least be able to tour heaven. While being a tourist in heaven is possible, where you will end up is hell.ā
āIs it just me that Iām even more worried after hearing that?ā
āEven if we say anything the higher-ups wonāt listen. Since it went without a hitch last year, all we can do is just do as weāre told.ā
Looking at my bossās sighing back, I sighed as well.
He was still one of the organizationās greats as the boss of the battlemages, but even so, he was just a salaried villain.
āThe start time is 0000 hours. The codeword is āmake it rain.ā we just have to be ready to fire tomorrow at 0100 hours.ā
āWe can only hope and pray they donāt die.ā
It leaves a bitter taste in our mouths but what can we do.
If we were going to argue about those things then we should be working for the empire, not an evil organization.
āPleaseā¦ We can only hope that no one dies.ā
āIs that really the caseā¦ There are times when death can be a more peaceful rest.ā
Looking at the bossās oddly bitter smile, all I could do was pray for the trainees who would fall into despair in a few short hours.
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